Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho will look to continue their respective hot streaks on Tuesday when the Carolina Hurricanes visit Cole Caufield and the Montreal Canadiens.
Jarvis collected a power-play goal and two assists and Aho also tallied on the power play on Sunday as the Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes (45-19-6, 96 points) skated to their third straight win with a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Carolina holds a one-point lead over the Buffalo Sabres for the top spot in the conference. The Hurricanes have a bigger margin for error in the Metropolitan Division, with the second-place Penguins residing 10 points off the pace.
Jarvis’ fourth three-point performance of the season extended his point streak to three games (one goal, five assists). He leads the team with 29 goals.
With his game-opening tally 47 seconds into the first period, Aho became the first player in Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes franchise history to record eight 25-goal seasons. He had been tied with Hall of Famer Ron Francis for the honor.
“Obviously, it helps when you start on time,” said Aho, who leads the team in assists (47) and points (72). “We were able to score that one and then kind of took over the game from there.”
Nikolaj Ehlers had a power-play goal and an assist for his second multi-point performance in three games for the Hurricanes, who converted three times on the power play on Sunday.
“It’s nothing that we hadn’t been doing,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the team’s production with the man advantage. “We just got some shots that found their way to the back of the net. That happens. I think we’ve been due for that.”
The Canadiens (38-21-10, 86 points) enjoyed an offensive eruption in their last game as well.
Caufield recorded his third hat trick and added two assists for a career-high five points in Montreal’s 7-3 romp over the New York Islanders on Saturday.
“Obviously it’s a big win and the puck felt like it was going in (on Saturday)” said Caufield, who is riding a five-game point streak (six goals, four assists).
Caufield has scored 11 goals in his last 11 games to boost his team-leading total to 43 tallies. He also scored a goal in the Canadiens’ 7-5 victory over the Hurricanes on New Year’s Day.
Quite naturally, Caufield’s linemates also fared well versus the Islanders, as captain Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky each recorded a four-point performance. Suzuki set up four goals on Saturday to boost his club-best totals in assists (61) and points (85), while Slafkovsky scored two goals and set up two others.
Slafkovsky (four goals, five assists) and Suzuki (three goals, eight assists) are both enjoying six-game point streaks.
“I’m just trying to do my best, trying to help the team, try and get us going when things are not going our way, and it worked out (on Saturday),” Slafkovsky said. “But we’ve got 13 games left so we’ve just got to keep pushing and keep doing this every night.”
Montreal tentatively resides in third place in the Atlantic Division due to having played one fewer game than the rival Boston Bruins.
